Blackened Secret
by MssrBlaze
Summary: A dark secret emerges on the night of the Black Moon. Mysterious murders take place and Hermione recieves numerous death threats. Could this murderer be someone from her past? And what has he to do with Voldemort, who is dead and gone? SBHG
1. Chapter One

**Chapter One:**

Legend often speaks of horrible events taking place on the night of the Full Moon. Legend often neglects to mention, however, the things that take place on the night of no moon. The break in the moon's cycle between the New Moon and the Full Moon. For the few who have been unfortunate enough to hear of this night, and of these happenings, it is referred to as the night of the Black Moon.

Our story begins on this night. In an alley way in London at about 10 pm...

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'Arrogant prat' she thought to herself as she left his apartment. She knew that there had to be an alternative reason as to why he invited her there in the first place. Somehow, deep down, she had doubted the excuse of him just wanting to 'talk'. But, as always, she dropped everything she had been working on and went over there. Which turned out to be a big mistake. Oh, it started out completely innocent. He had even faked a breakup with some girl over the phone and then proceeded to 'cry' on her shoulder. And she fell right in to that trap, hook, line, and sinker. It wasn't until he began to put the moves on her hard and heavy that she began to realize what was happening.

He ran her hand gently up her shoulder and looked her in her eyes. "You are the only one that's been there for me from the beginning. You have no idea how much I appreciate that." He touched her cheek and ran his other hand up her leg, slowly, until he reached an area that a friend shouldn't be. For a few minutes, the lust took over and she went along with it. Then, when he tried to unbutton her shirt, it donned on her what was happening.

She pushed him away and he continued to try and take off her shirt. "What are you doing?" She asked him, as she shoved him away yet again. He looked at her in mock confusion.

"Just trying to show a _good_ friend how grateful I am for them. Why?" He replied cockily. The fire whiskey on his breath was almost intoxicating. She just shook her head and stood up.

"I can't believe you. I should have known that you would try something as low as this to get into my pants." She grabbed her sweater off of a chair and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" He said to her back angrily. "I know you want me. You can't deny it. Any mud blood would be happy to be in your shoes, and yet you turn it down." He staggered behind her and leaned against a wall to keep his balance.

She stared at him in shock for a minute. "Mud blood? Are we back to that again, Draco? I thought that after you switching sides and helping the order defeat that ass of a wizard Voldemort, that you would have changed. I guess I was wrong. You just can't teach an old _dog_ any new tricks." She opened the door and before she got out, he said something else.

"I'll teach you some new tricks." He said. She just shook her head and slammed the door.

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And that's how she ended up in the alley behind his apartment building, fuming, recalling what happened. She turned the corner to enter yet another alley way that led to the street.

Before she got to the end of it, however, she heard a noise that caused her to stop. It sounded like somebody whispering, very softly, her name. She listened again, afraid that her ears might be playing tricks on her in the dark.

_'Hermione'_ It said. She turned to her right to where it sounded as if it were coming from. Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She jerked around so fast, that any one else would have gotten whiplash.

The sight that greeted her eyes was almost unbearable. She had to cover her mouth to keep from throwing up. There, amongst the trash and clutter of the alley, was a body. A dead, mangled body of a girl about her age. She didn't hesitate. Before she could think twice, Hermione apparated to the place that she knew Dumbledore and Harry would be.

They were at the old headquarters with Sirius. Dumbledore and Harry had just completed there research about a month ago and had succeeded in bringing Sirius back out of the veil. She imagined , in her mind, the room that they would be in. In a snap, she was there.

She landed, somewhat roughly, in an odd sort of chair. Looking up, her face grew red. She had landed in someone's lap.

"Well, what a very pleasant surprise. If only a beautiful woman could land in my arms every night, I would be a happy man when I die." Sirius Black said, smiling mischievously.

She mumbled an apology and hurried off of his lap. "Where is Dumbledore, and Harry? There's something in the alley...Draco's apartment...girl...she's...she's...all the blood...everywhere...I need to tell them." She managed to spit out. The smirk vanished off of Sirius' face as quickly as it had come.

"Wait. Slow down. They are in the other room. Hang on." He told her before rushing off. When he came back, he was accompanied by Harry and Professor Dumbledore.

"Hermione." Harry said, rushing over to his friend and embracing her in a hug." Are you alright?" She nodded. Then shook her head.

"Tell us what happened. Including why you were in that alley in the first place." Dumbledore said. She did as she was asked.

When she finished with her story, even the part about Draco being a prat, she looked at them all. She looked into Harry's eyes and saw worry. In Dumbledore's, she saw curiosity. But in Sirius'...was that anger, or was that jealousy, or what exactly, was that?

She didn't figure it out, because Dumbledore spoke. "Well, Ms.Granger, take me there. To this alley." Then he looked at Harry. "Get some of the order assembled and tell them it is an emergency. Meet me there in 20 minutes. We'll inform the ministry after we've investigated the situation." Harry nodded and left the room after giving Hermione another worried glance.

"I'll come with you now, Albus, if you don't mind." Sirius said, eyes never leaving Hermione's. Dumbledore nodded his approval and they apparated together.

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	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I have a very beautiful ring that I got for my birthday from my wonderful boyfriend. I also have a vase full of roses that I got from him, too. But, I didn't get Harry Potter for my birthday, unfortunately. If I were JK Rowling, do you think that I would be wishing for him for my birthday? No. I would already have him! Duh!

A/N: To every one who 'hit' this story and didn't review, I forgive you. Also, thank you for reading it. To anyone who did review, thank you too, and I will thank you personally once I receive them.

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Chapter Two:

"Well. This certainly doesn't look very promising." Sirius replied when he saw the body of the girl. Hermione had her head turned. She couldn't look at the body without gagging. "Wait a minute, what's this?" He said, bending down over the body and retrieving a folded piece of paper.

"Hermione, did you drop this?" Sirius asked her. She turned to look at the item. She didn't recognize it at all.

"No, why? Did you? Or the Headmaster?" She asked. Dumbledore shook his head while still examining the site for any clues as to who could have possibly done this.

"Well, it has your name on it." He finished, handing it to her. She stared at it curiously. Sure enough, there was her name in a very loopy handwriting that she didn't recognize. The letter was sealed with a wax seal that had some creatures head imprinted into it. As she was about to open it, her common sense got the better of her.

"Professor, do you recognize this script?" She asked. The professor walked over to where she was standing and took the letter from her.

He held it close to his face as he examined it. Finally, he shook his head. "No, I am afraid that I don't. But it could easily be any bodies. They could have simply used a script changing spell." He turned the envelope over again. "And I suggest you wait until we get back to headquarters before you open it. Incase there is something wrong with it, I would like to examine it fully."

She nodded her head. Just as she did, a series of pops announced the arrival of the order members that Harry went after.

"Ah, Harry, Remus. I was awaiting your arrival. Tell me, do either of you see anything unusual about this scene?"

Harry looked around, while Remus sniffed the air.

"Well, there appears to be no sign of a struggle. I mean, other than the evident blood, there is nothing on the ground that would show that this happened here. It must have happened elsewhere, and then her body brought here." He summed up. Dumbledore nodded.

"I agree. What do you concur, Remus?" The Headmaster asked the werewolf.

Remus sniffed the air again. " Something...not right...not...human, was here. Or at least, attacked this girl and killed her. I can smell it, but it is like no other creature that I have ever smelt before."

Dumbledore's face went grave." I had a bad feeling that something like this would happen. The funny thing is, I thought that it would be rogue death eaters behind a few murders."

Hermione finally overcame her queasiness. She decided that if she didn't look at the body or smell to much, then she was fine." This definitely doesn't look like the work of any ex-death eater. Their work is usually clean, considering that they usually use the Killing Curse as their weapon. And unless they developed a new one...I don't think it was one of them."

As she waited for their replies, she made the mistake of glancing at the body. She stumbled sideways and was caught by Sirius, only to jerk out of his arms and throw up.

"Whoa, whoa. I think it's about time you went home and got some rest. I think all these order members can handle this from here. You've been through enough for one night." He grabbed her arm, and, despite her protests, apparated her home.

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Well, to his home anyway. She looked around. "I thought you were taking me home." She stated. His face grew red.

"I did. Until whoever did this is caught, you are staying here. I don't want anything to happen to you..." He said. Realizing that he said too much, he quickly began to speak again, in hopes that she would forget.

"So, welcome home, Ms.Granger. You can have my bed tonight. Don't worry," He said, catching sight of her wide eyes," I'll room with Harry or stay in another of my dozen room's tonight." She smiled.

"Thank you. For all of this, I mean. I always have admired you. You are a great wizard, Sirius Black." She said.

'If only,' he thought,' If only she knew how much those words meant to me. If she only knew how much I admire her, too.'

His thoughts were interrupted by her clearing her throat. "Hmm Hmm." She said. " Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, but I need something clean to sleep in, if you don't mind."

He looked around the room, trying to think of what he could possibly give her. "Right." He said, going over to his closet. He pulled out a large t-shirt and handed it to her.

"There. I hope that works. You can use that bathroom over there."

She nodded.

"Is there anything else you need? Food? Water?" He asked, awkwardly.

She shook her head. " I don't think I could keep it down." She said.

"Right. Well, goodnight, Hermione." He said, and, before he could stop himself, he walked over and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Then, he hurried out of the room before she had a chance to reply.

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Hermione just stood there, her hand on her head where his kiss had been, in complete and utter shock.

She didn't know what to think. Part of her wanted to scream 'Eewww! I've just been kissed by Harry's godfather!' But the other part of her, most of her actually, liked it. Enjoyed it, she would even venture to say.

As she walked over to the bed, his bed, she felt as if she were floating on air. She lay her head down on the pillow, his pillow, and took in his scent. It was wonderful. Terribly masculine, but it was still wonderful to her.

And she fell asleep, all worries chased out of her head by great black Labrador dogs.

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Sirius smacked himself squarely in the fore head.

'How could I have done that!' He thought. 'She's going to think me a creep! A weird old guy who tried to put the moves on her. And didn't she just say that Draco had tried the same thing? Ok, so his was worse, and I can see why he wanted her so much. I mean, if the skin on her fore head was that soft, I can only imagine…' He smacked himself in the forehead again.

'I really need to stop doing that.' He thought, as he headed to the bathroom to take a 'cold' shower, and then to one of the spare bedrooms to go to bed himself.


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I..._sighs deeply_...do not live in Britain, which is where the true JK Rowling lives. Me, I live in good 'ol West Virginia! And, as most of you haven't heard of that, clearly, it is in the middle of nowhere, USA, not the UK.

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! I appreciate it so much. The responses to them are in my profile. Any questions or comments you have will be responded to there since we can't respond in our story. Well, here's chapter Three!

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Chapter Three:

"Professor Dumbledore." Severus Snape said when the search was finished. " We have found nothing. No clues at all." He looked around in hopes of spotting one last minute find.

Dumbledore sighed deeply. "I know, Severus. There is nothing here that would give us any indication of the culprit. Nothing, it seems, except for this," He pulled out the envelope addressed to Hermione as the rest of the order gathered round.

"What is that, Dumbledore?" Arthur Weasley asked, curiously.

"That remains to be a mystery still, I'm afraid. I advised Ms.Granger not to open it. I wished to have one of you examine it." He said. Alastor Moody stepped forward.

"I'll do it." He grunted. "Won't be the first bit of cursed parchment I've examined."

Dumbledore nodded. "Very well. Now, if you all wish, you can return home. The minute that Ms.Granger reads the letter, I will inform you. If any new clues develop, I will call you all to meeting. Good night." He said.

About 12 or 14 _pops_ later, it was just Dumbledore and Harry.

Harry looked at Dumbledore. The old man's usually sparkling eye's had lost some of their luster over the years he had know him. Harry could tell that his Ex-Headmaster was worried.

"This isn't good, is it?" He asked. Dumbledore just stood there pondering before he answered.

"No Harry. Murder is never good, I'm afraid, but a murder without any clues...that's even worse. I'm afraid that whose ever behind this will be a force to reckon with."

Harry sighed. He'd expected that. "Well, what do we do now?" He asked.

"We call the ministry. They'll need to deal with this as well. And they'll need to inform the public."

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The next morning, Hermione awoke completely refreshed and relaxed, which was weird, considering what happened last night.

Thoughts started running through her head all at once. The fight with Draco, Sirius' lap, the dead girl, the order, the kiss.

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. She hurried out of bed and grabbed a robe off of one of the chairs in the room. "Just a minute" She called as she hurried to the door.

She opened it just as Sirius was about to knock again. "Oh, were you sleeping? I'm sorry if I interrupted you." He said. He looked her over. 'Merlin, she look's good in the morning. And in my clothes' He thought, mentally hitting himself afterwards.

She smiled and shook her head." No. I had just woke up actually, right before you knocked." They stood there for a minute or two before Sirius seemed to remember what he had come for.

"Oh, yes, well, I just came to get some clothes. I suppose that in my hurry to get in bed with you...I mean to get you into bed...er...to get you to sleep, I forgot to grab some." He stuttered. 'Damn me and my big mouth!'

Mentally, she was smiling. She liked watching him struggle over her. It was sort of cute. Actually, it was hott.

"Ok,"She said," Come on in. It's your room after all." She smiled. He came in and went to his closet to grab some clothes.

"Well, I have to go downstairs and then take a shower. Care to join me?" He asked. Her eyes got wide. His face grew red.

She couldn't help but laugh. She decided to help him out on this one. " Sure." She said, pausing purposely. He smirked." I would love to go downstairs with you." She finished. His smile fell.

"Of course." He answered. He knew he'd been had. He couldn't help but smile at her, however.

He offered his elbow to her. She tucked her hand in the crook of his arm, and the two walked downstairs to breakfast together.

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When they entered the kitchen, they were greeted by the members of the order all seated at the table, enjoying one of Molly Weasley's' famous breakfasts'. Molly's face lit up at the sight of them.

"Ahh. Sirius, Hermione! You're up awfully early, aren't you?" She asked. At the table, Harry and Ron gave each other curious glances at the sight of there friend and Harry's godfather.

"I couldn't possibly have slept any longer," Hermione said, letting go of Sirius' arm," The smell of your wonderful cooking couldn't keep the dead asleep!" At this, Molly blushed profusely.

"Here, dear, you sit down, and I'll get your breakfast for you. After all, you did have a rough night." She said, pushing Hermione down into the nearest chair. Sirius sat down in the one beside her.

When Molly returned, she shook her head at Sirius. "I don't know why your sitting down, Sirius. Your well and able to get your own food." She said, walking over to her plate and taking her seat.

Ron laughed at Sirius as he got up to get his plate. Hermione gave him an 'I'm sorry' stare.

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About midway through breakfast, they all heard a loud _pop_ and Dumbledore walked into the room, followed by Remus and Mad-Eye.

Everyone at the table stopped eating. There could be only one reason that Dumbledore came here unannounced. It had to have something to do with the murder.

"Excuse me, everyone. I'm sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but I have something to ask of Ms.Granger." He said to them all. Hermione nodded her head and followed him out of the room.

"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said to her once they got into the hall. "We've finished testing your letter. You may read it now." He said, handing her the envelope.

She took it warily. Opening it gently, she pulled out the folded piece of parchment that was within. Unfolding it, she began to read:

_Dearest Hermione,_

_Death. Such a wonderful, yet terrible thing, don't you agree? No, I daresay you do not. That's always been the trouble with you. Too blinded by your morality and the pretence of what is 'good and right' that you cannot see the wrong that you yourself are doing. You speak of discriminations, you and your friends. However, you, the mud-blood think you are better than others, do you not? In school, you helped Neville Longbottom because you knew you were smarter than he. You helped Harry Potter defeat one of the greatest wizards to ever live because you knew you possessed knowledge and power he did not. You chose not to socialize with certain people because they were in Slytherin House. Tell me, if that's not discrimination, dear, what is? Now, you think you can fix it all. At this very moment you are probably thinking of someway you can rectify it. _

_Don't worry your pretty little mind. It will all be over soon enough. For you and all of your kind. Slowly, all the mud-bloods you know will vanish at the hands of my Serpantitheus, leaving only yourself. Then, you will perish as well. you shall suffer for all those whom you chastised and looked down upon for doing 'wrong', when in doing that, you yourself were guilty as well._

_I will have revenge for them. And for myself. You see, because of you and your insolent mud-blood ways, I never knew my father. Thanks to you, I never knew Lord Voldemort._

_Be seeing you soon, my dearest mud-blood,_

_T.R._

When Hermione finished reading, there were unshed tears in her eyes. She wiped them away and handed the letter to Dumbledore, who scanned over it quickly.

"Well," He said, "This situation seems to be growing more complicated by the minute."


	4. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I own...a dog...some situations in this story, the plot, my ideas, the Serpantitheus, and T.R, but other than that I own nothing in this story.

A/N: I would like to take a minute to thank all of my reviewers. You can find the answers to your questions and everything else in my live journal. The link to it is in my profile. Just copy and paste it into your browser. I hope I answered the questions well enough.

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Chapter Four:

"T.R.?" Ron asked after Dumbledore and Hermione showed the letter to the rest of the order. "Who's that?"

"You don't think...I mean, surely that's a coincidence." Harry said.

Dumbledore nodded his head confidently. "Yes Harry. That is a mere coincidence. The one thing we know for certain right now is that this is not the work of Voldemort. He is dead and buried in the same cemetery as his muggle father. The very same cemetery that you yourself visited in your fourth year at school."

Harry nodded his head and breathed, seemingly, for the first time since the initials T.R. were spoken.

"Then who is this T.R.? Do we have any leads at all?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked.

"I am afraid not."

"What's a Serpantitheus?" Ginny Weasley asked, which seemed to be a question on every body's minds, because all heads were turned towards Dumbledore, waiting for an answer.

"That is another thing we do not know as of yet." Dumbledore said. All heads dropped, disappointedly. "But you can be certain that we are going to find out."

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Hermione sat in her room after everyone had left, pouring over the letter. She grabbed various books out of the Black's Library on her way up, intent to find something about a Serpantitheus. Anything at all would have satisfied her and took the edge off her curiosity. Grabbing a book called _Creature Keeper: Your Guide to Strange and Unusual Creatures_, she began to read.

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Sirius awoke with a start as he heard a _thud!_ from the room adjacent his. Throwing back the covers in haste, he hurried out the door and knocked on the door to Hermione's room.

Getting no answer, he gently opened the door, wand at the ready, and crept in. When he saw what had made the loud thud, he wanted to laugh. What a predictable thing for Hermione to do, he thought.

Hermione was sound asleep, her head resting on a book that was open to page 13, and another that she was halfway through. Another book that she must have been reading as well lay on the floor at her feet. Sirius assumed that this book had fallen, causing the loud noise that had awoken him.

He tiptoed over to her so as not to startle her, and gently picked her up off her chair. As he began to carry her over to the bed, she awoke.

"Sirius?" She asked. He looked at her.

"Yes, my sleeping beauty?" He said to her. Which was true. She was gorgeous while she slept.

"Um, why are you putting me to bed? I was reading and then I decided to take a break..."She began. He put up a hand to stop her.

"You were sound asleep and drooling. You were even snoring." He joked. Her eyes grew wide.

"I was not! I wasn't even asleep. I was just resting my eyes." She declared defiantly, before looking at him and laughing. "Ok. Maybe I was asleep. But I was not drooling, nor was I snoring."

"Oh, but you were. You were drooling so much that your books are soaked through, and you were snoring so loudly that you woke the entire house. They all asked me to come up here and wake you. Actually, I think Harry said something about me bashing you over the head...but I didn't want to do that. It would have created such a mess." Sirius teased, which gained him a playful slap on the arm from Hermione. He sat down on the end of her bed and leaned over and propped his head on his hand. "So, what did you learn from your extensive studies?"

Her eyes got bright. Sirius noted that they always did this when she spoke of a book she had been reading, or something new she had learned. " Not much. I learned that in Latin, Serpantitheus means, as far as I can tell seeing as I don't speak Latin, 'snake creature'. Other than that there was nothing. No books mention any snake creatures. I found Basilisks and normal snakes, but nothing in any of these books mentioned anything called a Serpantitheus. I'm beginning to think there is no such thing." Hermione finished, taking a deep breathe.

They just sat there in silence for a minute, staring at each other. Sirius decided finally to break the silence. "Maybe we can go to Hogwarts tomorrow and ask Madam Pince. If anyone would have read about one of those, it would be her. She's read every book in the Hogwarts library."

Hermione nodded. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her yawn.

"Well, time for you to get to bed, Ms. Granger. Goodnight." Sirius said, heading for the door.

"Wait." Hermione said, causing him to turn.

"Yeah?" he said, curiously.

"Don't I get tucked into bed too? I mean, you carried me here, so I just assumed you would tuck me in." She said, playfully.

Sirius smirked. "Sure, beautiful. I'll tuck you in as well. Lay back." He said, as he walked over to her bedside.

Hermione did as she was told as he walked over. Silently, she was hoping for another of those kisses goodnight that she'd received the night before, but she was too scared to ask for that. What if he just did it in a fatherly way? After all, he was Harry's Godfather, so it would make sense.

Sirius, who had been surprised at her question, quickly and gladly complied. He carefully tucked her blankets under her lean body. When he was done, he looked her in the eye. "There you go, m'lady..."He said, trailing off. The look he saw there in her eyes made him do a double take. Was that lust? Was she really enjoying this as much as he was? There eyes remained locked and neither noticed that their heads seemed to be getting closer...closer...until their lips touched finally.

A wave of relief and relaxation swept over Sirius. How long he had wanted to do this, and now he was. And she was kissing him back, not yelling at him because he was 'old' even though the veil made him only 25 to her 20.

Hermione snaked her hands out of the tight confines of her blankets and wrapped them around Sirius neck, pulling him closer.

After a few minutes, and reluctantly enough, the two broke apart to take a breathe. Hermione couldn't help but smile. Sirius' face was flushed and he was smiling as well. They just stared at each other for a minute, each searching for any sign of repulsion from the other.

Convinced, Sirius spoke first. "Wow. You don't know how long I have been waiting on that." She looked surprised. Maybe he was scaring her.

"Really? I thought you would only think of me as Harry's friend and therefore too young to start any decent relationship."

He shook his head. "Well, I mean, when you were at school and I was ancient compared to you, but since I have been out of the veil, I have noticed that you turned into a very beautiful and talented witch, that only happens to be 5 years younger than me. I was just afraid that you would still think of me as too much older than you."

Hermione laughed." I have always fancied you. Even when you were 'ancient' as you say. But I have to admit that I wouldn't have done anything had you still been so much older. This veil thing was a blessing in disguise if you ask me. Apart from the fact that everyone thought you were dead, I mean." She finished, stifling yet another yawn.

"Ok. We can work the fine details of this..."He said making a circling hand gesture between them both, "tomorrow. Now, you need to get your sleep, as do I, if we are going to go to Hogwarts tomorrow." He told her.

She nodded." Alright. Till tomorrow, then." She said, leaning up and kissing him lightly on the lips." Goodnight." She said, rolling over in her bed. Sirius left the room and went to his, where, unbeknownst to him, a surprise awaited.


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: Hmmm... You know, after a while, you run out of things to say in here. Of all the witty comments I have said in the past, I can't think of one here. Fine. I'll give it a try. I own Harry Potter books, 6 of them to be exact, and 3 Harry Potter movies, but I didn't invent him. Jeez, half the time I can't even invent a witty disclaimer!

A/N: Ok. I really hope that in the last chapter I didn't make things move too fast for Hermione and Sirius. Think of it this way, though. Sirius has a knack for causing trouble and getting into danger, right? And Hermione being chased by some revenge-wanting lunatic isn't bettering her chances for survival. So I figured that it is better to live while they had the chance, instead of taking my time and them never (possibly) getting together. If I made you mad, though, I'm sorry. I have come to realize in my mere 17 years that you can't please everyone all the time. It's best just to please yourself and go from there. If people like it, so be it. If not, that's not your problem. Anyone else agree?

Sorry for the short chapters. They say everything I need them to, though.

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Chapter Five:

"Wyatt!" A deep voice yelled crudely.

"C-Coming, sir!" Wyatt yelled, hurrying to his boss. "Y-yes, boss?" He said warily, hoping his boss wasn't angry with him.

"Did you feed the pet's?" The man asked his employee, although he himself considered him more a slave. He watched the mans eyes grow large as he realized that he had forgotten one of the orders his boss had given him. "I am willing to let that go. Did you succeed in finding the location of my father's body? The sooner we find him, the quicker we can attempt to bring him back."

"N-no, sir. The person that we have in position is not answering any of our calls. We haven't been able to reach him for a few days."

The man's face grew red with rage. "You are such an incompetent fool! If you couldn't reach him by phone or floo, why didn't you just go to his home! Get out of my sight!" He yelled. As Wyatt was leaving, however, he hit him with a curse from behind. "Crucio!" He yelled. He loved to watch his victim's writhe in pain. He supposed that was his father coming out in him. Shortly after the Dark Lord was defeated by the sorry excuse for a wizard, Harry Potter, his mother had told him that the man he had thought to be his father for 21 years wasn't actually. His real father was the Dark Lord.

In his rage, he had killed the imposter on the spot, causing his mother to go a tad bit crazy. He kept her in his mansion with constant attention given to her by the best of doctor's and nurses. One day she had presented him with an old journal of his real fathers. It contained information that many could only dream of containing. Information that would give many nightmares.

But not him. It inspired him, angered him. Encouraged him to create his most lethal and prized possessions. His Serpantitheus. He spent many a long night pouring over books, researching how to do the proper creature cross-breeding to obtain his desired effect. Finally, about two years ago, he had mastered the feat and now had a whole herd of the beasts.

"Tyler?" His thoughts were interrupted by his most trusted friend and advisor, Symon.

"Yes, Symon, what is it?" Tyler said, somewhat annoyed at the interruption.

"They have fed the creatures. All of them are in great shape." Symon said. He proceeded to approach Tyler. He was very cautious, however. Just because he happened to be Tyler's best friend, didn't mean that he could avoid the mans wraith. Tyler had a very bad temper that Symon assumed came from his estranged father as well. After all, he had met Tyler's mother a number of times. While Tyler claimed she was crazy, Symon found himself drawn to the woman's warm disposition and often visited her like she was his own mother. It was a pity that Tyler kept her here, like some caged animal. She didn't deserve it. He had made a promise to himself that one day he would get her away from there. From Tyler. But first, he had to help Tyler with this task. While he didn't agree with some things the man did, this going after the mudblood and her friends was a good idea. After all, his father had been a very loyal supporter of the Dark Lord as well, and once the Dark Lord was defeated, his father and mother took their own lives in order to not be captured and sent to Azkaban, or to have to live day to day knowing that an insolent boy like Harry Potter defeated the greatest wizard to ever live. He wanted his revenge, too. And if the only way to get it was to serve a sadistic psychopath, then, so be it.

He sat down at the table across from Tyler. Tyler looked up at him with blood shot eyes. "Is that all?" He asked.

"No. I also wanted to inform you that the next one on your list, Tera Norman, is being trailed as we speak. We are ready to send out one of your Serpantitheus' as soon as you give the command."

Tyler looked up, somewhat happier than before. "Finally, someone competent in this whole place. Very well. Let me write a short message to Ms. Granger, then you can send them out. This time, send two. Make sure that there is only enough left of the body to barely be able to identify it. I want them to understand that I mean business."

Symon nodded and left the room.

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"Harry!" What are you doing in here at this time of night?" Sirius asked his godson, trying to sound as not guilty as was possible. By the look on Harry's face, however, his attempts were failing.

"Might I venture to ask you what you were doing in Hermione's room, kissing her, at this time of night?" Harry asked, half serious, half amused and a fraction of him disgusted.

Sirius blushed. "You saw that, did you? Well, what can I say? I couldn't resist."

Harry laughed. "Well at least you can tell me how you came to be in her room at 3 AM!"

Sirius laughed his bark like laugh. "Sure. But first, tell me how you came to be in the hallway spying at 3 AM. I am rather curious."

Harry smiled. "Fair enough. That falling book didn't wake only you up. And I am quite offended that you told her I wanted you to beat her over the head with something!" Sirius looked down, ashamed. "You should have said I wanted you to strangle her with Dobby's tea cozy. That would have been more believable."

The two men laughed. "Now, it's your turn to explain."

Sirius grew serious.( Sorry about that.)

"To be honest, I really like her. She's...She's..."

"Amazing? Smart? Beautiful?" Harry supplied.

"Yeah. All of that, and so much more. And she's so strong. To see all that she's seen and still be so...so innocent. It's amazing."

Harry looked at his godfather. He'd seen him around a few girls since he'd been back, and he'd seen him around a lot of girls in various pesieves. He had never seen him appear to be this stricken with a girl.

"It appears that someone has developed a crush on my best friend. Who would have thought?" Harry teased. Sirius threw a pillow at him.

"Now, if you don't mind, I have plans for tomorrow and would like to get some sleep." Sirius said.

Harry, in the best girly voice he could muster, said, "But don't you want me to tuck you in?"

He barely dodged the shoe that came flying at his head as he shut the door.


	6. Chapter Six

Disclaimer: I owned Five Dollars yesterday until I spent it to watch a movie called The Brothers' Grimm. It was good, but now I don't own five dollars anymore. I have a ticket stub, though. Oh, I am soon going to own a puppy from the animal shelter when I get enough money to adopt it. Its name is Oreo. I don't, nor did I ever, own Harry Potter, unfortunately.

A/N: I still am very sorry that I don't write very long chapters. I try to, really I do. I just can't. I don't leave anything out, though. And I try to be as descriptive as I can.

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Chapter Six:

As she walked down the street, she had the strangest feeling that someone was following her. She turned her head and looked behind her. Shaking her head, she told herself to quit being such a spaz. There wasn't anyone following her.

-------------------------

Swooping low, the only thing on its mind was its kill. Its father had told it to go kill this human, and it was going to do just that. Calling for its brother, they both went in for a dive.

-------------------------

A loud scream filled the Black house. "Ronald Weasley! You're 20 years old, for Merlin's sake. How many times do I have to remind you to pick up your chess set when you're done with it!"

Ron came rushing down the stairs. Grabbing the chess set, he apologized. "Sorry, mum. I just keep forgetting."

Mrs.Weasley looked at her son's honest face and her scowl grew soft. "It's alright. Just don't do it again. I almost poked a hole in my foot on one of those blasted pieces!" Hermione and Harry walked into the dining room, followed shortly by Sirius and Remus.

"So, Molls, what's for breakfast?" Remus asked. "I'm so hungry, I could eat a dog!" This caused Sirius to jump back in shock.

Remus looked at his friend and laughed. "Sorry, Padfoot. I didn't mean that literally." Sirius laughed, too.

"It's quite alright. Just please don't use those references about food anymore. They kind of make me not want to accompany you on your moonlight escapades."

Hermione laughed. Sirius caught her eye.

This morning when she had woken up, she had been, well, refreshed is what she would have called it if she had been asked to describe it in one word. All night Sirius' kiss was on her lips, and the prospect of their trip to Hogwarts was in her dreams. Many scenarios had played themselves out in her head, each as impossible and farfetched as the next. She had rolled out of bed and went to take a shower. By the looks and sounds of things she was the first one to rise. Once she got out and began to get dressed, she chose to wear a black spaghetti strap shirt with a black wife beater over top of it. She also chose a pair of dark blue comfortably fitting jeans and a pair of flip-flops and then headed down the stairs to begin her day.

That's about the time she heard the scream from Mrs. Weasley and everything else leading up to her and Sirius' little eye lock happened.

"Will somebody please go see if that ruddy owl of Ginny's brought the mail? I am expecting a letter from a cousin of mine from Austrailia."Mrs.Weasley said, putting the finishing touches on breakfast. Sirius grabbed a piece of bacon of the table before standing up.

"I'll go get it." He winked at Hermione and left the room. Hermione just laughed.

A few minutes later when Sirius returned, however, the look on his face was enough to chase any pleasant thoughts away.

"What is it, Sirius? Is everything ok?" She asked, hesitantly. He merely handed her the paper. Her eyes fell immediately when she read the headline:

MURDER BAFFLES MINISTRY YET AGAIN...

Early this morning, Ministry officials found the horribly distorted body of one Tera Norman.

Her body was found in muggle neighborhood a few feet from her home.

Aurors arrived on the scene when a distraught witch by the name of Agatha Tomas reported it's location to the

Ministries Emergency Floo- Line- Network.

No evidence was found and there seems to be no leads thus far.

The Ministry has asked that the public proceed with extreme caution.

The individual behind this act is considered armed and extremely dangerous.

If any sightings of any unusual individuals or strange happenings occur,

please contact the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic with any details.

Written by:

Ellyn Laspor,

Asst. Editor

Hermione put down the paper and took a deep breath. She could tell by what was said in the article that this 'T.R' character was behind it. The girl, Tera Norman, was found in a muggle neighborhood with no trace of evidence to be found.

She shared a solemn look with Sirius.

"Oh, dear." Mrs. Weasley said. "I wonder if Dumbledore would know about this yet. He's at the school after all. They don't get post there till..." She paused, thinking.

"10:30" Hermione finished for her.

"Yes, thank you, dear. Well," She said, taking a breath, "Someone will have to go inform him, and I'm so busy." She said, looking at all of the young people sitting at the table.

"We're going there today anyway. We can tell Dumbledore while we're there." Sirius said. Hermione nodded.

"Well, alright then. If your going in that direction...But what are you going to the school for?" She asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Hermione was eager to tell them all. "I wanted some books, you know, to try to figure out what a Serpantitheus is, and Sirius' library didn't have what I was looking for. So, he decided that the best person to ask about them would be Madam Pince."

Molly nodded. " That does seem to make a lot of sense. Will you all be eating dinner there, then?"

Hermione looked at Sirius, who seemed to know exactly what was going on. "Yeah. We've got everything planned." He said. "It might take all day to find the books we are looking for." He added, after a knowing look from his godson.

" Very well, then. Be careful, the both of you. And don't you let her out of your sight, Sirius. Not for one minute, you hear?" She chastised.

Sirius grinned mischievously. "Don't worry, I won't."

-----------------------------------------

They arrived at the school mid-class change. The hallways were flooded with young wizards and witches earning one of the greatest magical educations out there.

"Wow. Were we this shrimpy when we were at school?" Sirius said, earning a glare from a very puny looking boy in front of him.

Hermione playfully slapped him on the arm. "Be nice," She said. "And to answer your question, I quite remember Ron and Harry looking equally as 'shrimpy' as these children are. I couldn't tell you about yourself. Although, by the looks of things, your puniness hasn't done much to improve." She teased.

He mocked a pout until they reached the familiar stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office.

Hermione looked at Sirius. "Uh, did anyone tell you what the password was?" He shook his head.

Just then, the gargoyle leaped aside and Dumbledore walked out of the stairwell behind it with a grim expression on his face.

"Ah. Ms. Granger. I have heard of the unfortunate event that took place last night. And, of course, my Aurors were the first on the scene. I am afraid we found something for you yet again."

He handed her a letter in a familiar looking envelope. She opened it carefully. When she read it, however, she didn't know what to think. There wasn't much that she could make sense of:

Dearest Hermione,

People work better in groups. Take for instance your little Order of the Phoenix. While one person, say, Dumbledore, would be sufficient enough to stop most things, when he has the Order behind him he is almost unstoppable.

That's why, my sweet little mud blood, I have decided to show you that I can have a team too. And my team can be just as unstoppable as yours.

Good luck.

Thinking of your demise,

T.R.

She looked up at Dumbledore in confusion.

"What in the world does he mean by 'team'?" She asked. Sirius took the letter from her hand and read it quickly.

"He means, Hermione, that he has more than one of those terrible creatures at his disposal."

"How do you know that? Did you find any clues?" Sirius asked. Dumbledore shook his head.

"Again, I am afraid that we have no clues to offer. We could simply tell by looking at the horrible shape that the body was in that it was done by more than one of the creatures. It seems this 'T.R.' is trying to send a message, make a point." He finished.

"Well, it appears he has done so." Hermione said, a determined look on her face.

She looked at Sirius and then back to Dumbledore.

"Well, sorry Professor, but we have to go. We have some research to complete."


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything Harry Potter. I only own some of the characters and situations that J.K. Rowling would not recognize.(Unless she is a major fan fiction reader!)

A/N: Ahh...this has been such a year so far. Well, here is chapter 7. It is the longest one I have written yet.

Chapter Seven:

Sirius walked out of Dumbledore's office with Hermione following close behind him. When they got to the base of the stairs, he rounded on her.

"Alright. Now on to the next thing on our list. To the library!" He said, throwing his finger into the air and pointing it in the direction of the library. He started marching and she amusedly followed him.

As they approached, she shushed him. "There could be students working in there!" She scolded.

He laughed. "Yes, Ma'am." He told her. She playfully slapped him on the arm and they went thorough the doors.

Madam Pince spotted Hermione at once and rushed over to her aid.

"Oh! Ms. Granger! How wonderful to see you again! It's been so long already. Look how you've grown! Time sure fly's, doesn't it?" She said, hugging her old student.

Hermione smiled. "Yes, it has been. I've really missed this place." She answered, returning the friendly hug.

Amidst all the excitement, Sirius cleared his throat.

Madam Pince just looked at him for a minute, unable to place his face. Then, it clicked. Hermione could only step back and watch as she laid into him.

"Sirius Black! I should have spotted you at once! Get out! Out! Out!" She said, pushing him towards the exit. "A _life_ long ban means _life_ long."

Hermione hurried over. She couldn't lose her search partner. "Uh, Madam Pince, what are you doing? Calm down." Hermione told her.

"Nope. This man is a danger around books. Why, he'll take everyone of them from under my nose!"

Hermione looked at him." You stole books?" She was shocked.

Sirius face grew red with embarrassment. Oddly enough, it wasn't from all the eyes watching them, but from Hermione's questioning stare.

"No...I...I just borrowed them." He said. From both of the womans death glares, he could tell that the information wasn't enough to satisfy them. "I had an image to withhold while I was in school! What would the girls think of me if I read as much as I liked to?" He asked.

Hermione snorted. "That you weren't illiterate, possibly?"

He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, that was Moony's territory. Don't worry, I have them all at my house." He reassured them.

Hermione, anxious to try and do what they came for, took matters into her own hands.

"Ok. How about this. I promise you, Madam Pince, that I will find every single book that this man ever took, er, borrowed, and bring them back to you."

Madam Pince pondered over this for a minute before coming to her decision.

"Alright. But only because I trust you, Ms. Granger. And you, Mr. Black, " She said, rounding on Sirius again, "Don't you dare touch one book, you hear?"

Sirius nodded. "Scouts honor that I won't."

"Ok. Now, Ms. Granger, is there anything that I can help you with before I go tend to these students?

Hermione nodded. "As a matter of fact, there is. Have you ever heard of something called a Serpantitheus?"

Madam Pince closed her eyes as if searching an index in her head.

"No. Can't say that I have. Why?" She asked, naively. She hadn't any clue that Hermione was connected to the recent murders.

"Um, no reason. Just some research." Hermione answered, not wanting to go into details of her letters with the librarian. "So, you're sure that you have no records here of anything of that sort?"

Madam Pince shook her head. "I have Serpents. That's about all that I can think of that would be related. Would that help?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, but thank you anyway." She turned to Sirius. "Well, it appears our research is done."

He smiled half-heartedly. He know that even though she acted like it didn't affect her, it really did. She liked to be the one on top of things, to know all the answers. This had to be killing her.

As they retraced their footsteps out of the library, Sirius put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright. You'll find it. Somebody has to have some clue as to what these things are, or they couldn't exist, now could they?" He reassured her.

Hermione smiled at him. She could tell that he knew that this setback

had upset her, but if he thought that she was going to give up without a fight, he was sorely mistaken.

"I know. Thanks for bringing me here. I doubt that they, as in Harry and Ron, would have allowed me to come had it not been anyone but themselves or you who had taken me. I'm just sorry that I wasted your time in vain."

He looked into her eyes. "You didn't waist my time. On the contrary. You've been helping me to bide it." He told her.

By the very confused look on her face, he deducted that he needed to explain.

"You see, I brought you here to do the research, yes, but I also decided to mix a little pleasure with all that work. So, I planned other activities for us to partake in."

She laughed. "I should have suspected an ulterior motive. How very marauder-like of you." At her last statement, he laughed that familiar bark-like laugh of his.

"That's the best complement I think I've had in years." He said.

She smiled. "Well, I'm happy to feed your ego. Now, what exactly are these plans of yours? I thought we were just going to grab a quick bite to eat after we did our research and then head home."

"Well, I never said quick, so where did you get that idea, huh?" He joked.

"I...Well, you never said. I just assumed. So, what are they?" She pressed on.

He grinned mischievously. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He walked away from her, leaving her staring in his wake, shaking her head amusedly.

------------------------------------------------

Tyler put down the _Daily Prophet_ with a satisfied look on his face.

"I take it this pleases you, sir?" Wyatt asked his boss warily.

Tyler looked at him. "Yes, it pleases me greatly, Wyatt. Isn't everyone pleased when things go as they planned them? And this went off without a hitch."

"It has, sir. I made sure that the creatures were reminded of their orders. I hoped that they would not to disobey you."

Tyler placed his chin on his steepled fingers.

"No, Wyatt. You did excellent. Things are going according to schedule. You may go."

As Wyatt turned to walk out of the room, Tyler raised his wand to him.

"Oh, and don't call them 'creatures'. _Crucio!_" He yelled. Wyatt screamed in pain. When he lay on the ground, shaking in pain, Tyler spoke to him again.

"They are pets, not creatures. Next time, your punishment will be worse."

00000000000000

Symon watched all this from the doorway. The pure ruthlessness with which Tyler behaved sickened him. Silently, he vowed to himself more than ever to one day gain his revenge.

----------------------------------------------------

In Hogsmeade, the leaves had just begun to fall, causing the beautiful city to look even more spectacular. People were seen sporting light jackets and slacks. Hermione took in all these sights as they entered the quaint town.

Sirius heart melted at the look on her face. It was a look of pure elatement. It enticed him how she was entranced by the simplest of things.

He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of her stupor.

"We're almost there." He said. She smiled.

They turned left off the main street and Sirius led them up a rocky road that led to a series of caves. They looked strangely familiar to Hermione.

When they entered a cave, it donned on her where he had led her. Before she could voice it, however, Sirius spoke.

"This is where I spent most of yours and Harry's fourth year. I don't know if you remember it, but..." He began, but Hermione interrupted him.

"This is where we followed you to! It's where we brought you all that chicken." She exclaimed. She looked at him seriously. "I was so concerned that you would do something stupid and be caught."

He looked at her. He admired the concern she gave to him even when she was a 14 year old girl with everything on her mind but an old man. "You remember that?" He said. "I thought for sure you would have forgotten."

She shook her head. "You'd be surprised at how good a memory I have." She looked around. Suddenly, everything looked different to her than when they entered. So different that it took her breath away. There were flowers, now, growing out of the ground in every color imaginable. In the corner of the cave, there was a small table set up. It was adorned with a pure white table cloth and a single candle set atop it. On the ceiling, there were a bunch of lights that she wouldn't swear wasn't actually a bunch of firefly's. It was beautiful.

"Hermione, breath." Sirius said.

She didn't even realize she had been holding her breath until he spoke.

"Do you like it? I was afraid it was a bit much." Sirius asked her. He looked at her skeptically.

"Sirius, I...It's beautiful. I love it. Thank you." She said. He walked over to the table and pulled out a chair for her.

"Milady." He said. She went over and sat down. As he sat, she couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

He looked at her." What?"

"Nothing." She lied, giggling harder.

"Come on. What is so funny?"

"Well, I was just wondering when you became such a romantic, that's all."

He winked. "Forever, my dear. Have you not heard of my reputation with the ladies?"

She snorted. "I'm sorry, but the love record of a seventh year boy doesn't provide much good reading material."

He looked at her, playing as if he were offended. He put his hand over his heart. "That hurts. That hurts there, Hermione."

"Don't you mean here?" She asked, pointing to his head instead.

He laughed this time. "Ok, ok. You got me there. Now, I'm starving. Let's eat, shall we?"


	8. Chapter Eight

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own HP or anything affiliated with it and the only reason that this chapter is getting written is because Amaya is holding a brownie to my head…..**

Chapter 8:

"So, how did it go last night, Sirius?" Harry asked, a smirk playing at his mouth.

Sirius just blushed and continued to make the breakfast he had been attempting ever since early that morning. Cooking was never his strong point…

"Come on! You have to tell me! I am your favorite godson, aren't I?" Harry asked, innocently.

Sirius chuckled at his godson's feeble attempts. He reminded him so much of James sometimes. "You are my only godson, so what's your point?" He flipped the egg that was beginning to stick in to the bottom of the frying pan.

Harry grabbed a can of cooking spray and handed it to Sirius. "Here, try this." He said before getting back on topic. " My point is that you know you want to tell someone anyway, so there is really no reason to put me through this torture. Besides, if you tell me of your date, I might consider telling you of mine." Harry said. He hated reverting to blackmail, but some things must be done when dealing with a stubborn wizard like Sirius Black.

Sirius slowly sprayed the frying pan with a thin layer of spray like the can directed him to, then turned his head to his godson and looked at him expectantly. "Ok, then. You tell me first. Who was this date with?" Pausing, he added, "And why didn't you inform me of this before?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh no you don't. You first or there is no deal." He said firmly.

Sirius sighed. "Fine. As you know, yesterday started with a trip to the castle and to the library. Then after we weren't successful there, I offered to take her to dinner. That's all." He said.

Harry smiled. "A dinner that you had planned down to the tee, I hear."

Sirius removed the last of the eggs from the fire and began to put the bacon in the pan. "Oh, and who is your little informant?" He asked.

Harry smiled. "Oh, just a very reliable source. So, what did you two talk about?" He asked.

Sirius turned the bacon. "That, Harry, is none of your business. Besides, you are too young. You'll just have to wait and I might tell you one day when you're older." He fought hard to suppress a laugh at the look of anger that appeared on his godson's face.

"You have to be kidding me! You are only 5 years older than me now, so you can't use that excuse." Harry said.

Sirius laughed. "Oh yes I can, too. I am older than you, Harry. Just because the veil took off a few years, doesn't mean it took my memories. Those make me far older than you."

Harry looked down, ashamedly. "Sorry. But please tell me. She is my best friend, after all. I deserve to know what's going on in her love life just as much as the next bloke." He said.

Sirius took the bacon off the stove and grabbed both the plate of eggs and the bacon and sat them on the table. " You sound just like Ron. Besides, I expect that she will tell you herself if you two are that close." He said, sitting down and beginning to eat.

Just then, Ginny came down the stairs wearing a smile and walked right over to Harry, not hesitating, and planted a huge kiss squarely on his lips before sitting herself down to enjoy breakfast.

Sirius smiled at his godson. "I guess there's no need to ask who you were on that date with, eh?"

-------------------------------------------

Tyler paced the study of his large, and very empty mansion. Somehow, he had the feeling that something was not going to go right with this next victim. She was too…guarded…for his liking. After all, the name of McDonald was considerably well known throughout the wizarding world. He didn't want to cause that much of a stir just yet. He couldn't risk exposing himself before he got to his main task…destroying that hypocritical little disgrace of a witch, Hermione Granger. No, he would chose a new, less known witch to target. At least this time.

Making up his mind, he yelled for Wyatt, who came running at once. "Y-yes, Master?" He asked in that annoying stuttering voice of his.

Tyler sat down. "Yes, I need you to get me the list of the mud-bloods that you were looking at earlier. I have made a change of plans concerning our next target." Wyatt looked at him, clearly trying to understand why his master would be changing his plans.

Growing annoyed ,Tyler reached for his wand, which sent Wyatt scurrying out of the room.

Spencer walked into the room just as Wyatt left, receiving a look of hatred from the presumably lower life form. Walking over to Tyler, he bowed before saying, "Um, if you don't mind me asking, sir, why are you changing your plans? I thought you had a system going that would lead you right to Granger?"

He took a step back, giving Tyler room to stand.

"Well, Spencer, I have noticed a snag that wasn't there before. You need not worry, however, as things will continue to go as planned. I will have my revenge over Granger, don't you dare doubt that." He drawled.

Spencer's stomach lurched in revulsion. He couldn't stand this man or what he thought of other people. How he could continue serving him, well, some days he did not know. The only thing that kept him strong was the love of that little old woman and the prospect of having a family for once in his life. A family who loved him.

"Yes, sir. I understand." He managed as Wyatt came hurrying back into the room, a parchment in his grimy little hands.

"H-here, master. As you wished…" He said, handing the paper over to Tyler, who jerked out of his hands ungratefully.

"It's about time, now, get out of my sight before I decide to feed you to the Serpantitheus." Wyatt's eye's grew wide with fear, and he scuttled out of the room as fast as he could.

Spencer watched as Tyler's eye's scanned the parchment he held. A smirk played at his lips as he chose his next victim.

"Ah, I don't know why it wasn't clear to me before. A double murder seems so much more…frightful. Let's go for tow inconspicuous people. People no one will miss. Here," He said, circling the names on the parchment, "Take this down and give the orders to the pet's. Tell them to make this one…more special."

Spencer took the parchment and headed out of the room. He was disgusted at the sheer non-chalantness with which Tyler could behave. Ordering peoples deaths as if it were nothing. He was exactly like his father. A model son in every respect.

As he approached the quarters where the Serpantitheus were held, he heard the eerie hissing as they were speaking in their language, parseltongue. Shaking off the shivers that crept up his spine at the sound, he entered the room. They looked up as he approached, eyes as cold and sickening as their master's. Stopping about ten feet in front of them, he spoke to them.

"Your master would like you go after a…"He looked at the paper, " Mandy Brokelhurst, and a Rose Zellar. They are friends and should be traveling together, so he says. He also says to make these murders…more special." He finished. Both of the creatures eye's were still fixedly looking at him. At first, he thought that they didn't comprehend him, but just as he was about to repeat himself, they nodded their heads and took off out of the open balcony window. Eager to escape the sheer smell of the creatures, Spencer walked with a ever quickening pace out of the room and back down to the main floor.

-------------------------------------------

Hermione rushed downstairs after her shower, her hunger, and her desire to see Sirius, driving her to hurry. She walked into the kitchen find Ginny laughing hysterically at something Harry had just said. Sirius was at the sink cleaning up the dishes. He had a faint smile on his face and was so enraptured in his task that he didn't see her approaching. She snuck up behind him and out her hand on her hip.

"You know, for such a smart wizard, I would have thought that you would realize that you could do this with magic a lot easier." She said in a mock- reprimanding tone.

He jumped a little at her voice and then turned around to face her. "Yes, but I also realized that I can do a more efficient job if I apply a little bit of elbow grease to the task. Besides," He said, inclining his head in the direction of Harry and Ginny, "If I take up my time doing this, I don't have to engage in any of their intelligent conversation."

Hermione looked over at her two friends, who were currently snogging over their morning coffee's, and laughed. "I see your point. Need help drying?" She offered.

He shook his head. "No. You need to eat. You can help me when you get done, however, so don't eat too much." He said.

She saluted him, then went over to the table and grabbed a piece of toast off of a plate. Harry seemed to notice her, in spite of his current position, and pulled away from Ginny at once.

"Hey, Mione! I didn't hear you come down." He said, blushing.

Hermione laughed. Ginny gave her a look that said 'Ok, you can go now'. Obliging her friend, she turned and walked away.

"No, you wouldn't have, would you?" She teased as she grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and poured herself a cup of coffee.

Sirius smiled at her. He had no idea that she was in such a playful mood when she woke up in the mornings. 'Well,' he told himself, 'These are just things that I am going to have to learn, now aren't they?' He watched her as she slowly and carefully picked the crust off of her toast. Then, he watched as she tore the remaining bread into small pieces before eating them. Taking a sip of her coffee, she stood up and dusted off her hands.

"Well, hand me a towel, then." She said, before catching the look in his eyes. Their gaze locked for a minute as she shared the heat and the passion that he conveyed to her in that one look. Ginny laughing loudly seemed to pull them out of it, however, for he handed her a dish towel and she went over beside him and began drying dishes.

A few minutes later, all of the dishes were done and were put away accordingly. Drying off his hands, Sirius turned to Hermione. "Let's say you and I go for a walk and let those two have their alone time."

She nodded and he took her hand and led her out of the kitchen. As soon as they rounded the corner of the house, he pinned her up against the house and kissed her very heatedly. She returned his kiss, welcoming his protruding tongue into her mouth willingly, allowing her own to explore every warm crevice of his mouth. A few minutes later, they broke apart somewhat unwillingly. Unfortunately, they both had to breath.

Pulling her into a tight embrace, Sirius moaned softly. "Wow, Mione. I've been dying to do that all morning."

She smiled up at him, kissing him lightly on the lips. "Me too. That's all I've thought about since I walked into the kitchen and saw you doing dishes."

He smiled. "Well, I'm glad to see that you care about your privacy, as my godson does not." He laughed.

She smiled wickedly. "Nonsense. It's not the privacy I care about. I would have kissed you right there on the table too, if you had wanted to. I just wanted you to make the first move, is all."

He laughed that bark like laugh. "Miss. Granger. I am shocked to see that there is a naughty side to you after all."

She looked at her feet embarrassed. He grabbed her chin in his fingers and tilted her head up to where her eyes were level to his. "I like it." He said, kissing her again with the same amount of passion as the one minutes ago.

This time, however, their kiss was broken by the sound of someone apparating into the house.

"Must be Dumbledore." She said, breathing heavy. Her eyes were full of fear.

Understanding her problem, Sirius gripped her hand tightly. "Let's go hear the news together, then."


	9. Chapter Nine

**A/N: Finally, the worthless git of an author decides that she wants to write a chapter on this story! Yay! There's a party and everyone's invited to...Review!**

**Chapter Nine:**

Hermione and Sirius walked slowly and hesitantly into the kitchen. They weren't very excited to speak to Dumbledore, for each knew that any information he might care to tell them would most likely be bad information. Not bad as in not reliable, but bad as in horrible news.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she walked into the kitchen. Ginny and Harry had, of course, stopped snogging and were now starring at Dumbledore apprehensively. They knew the possibilities as well.

Dumbledore looked at her with an odd expression when he saw her enter holding Sirius' hand, but then shook his head, seemingly to tell himself that this did not matter, that he was here for more pressing reasons.

"Ah, Hermione, Sirius. Just the people we were waiting for," he said, motioning to a seat at the table. "Please, sit down. We may all need to."

Sirius walked over to the table and held out a chair for Hermione, who obediently took it, concentrating not on her pride, but at the information that Dumbledore knew. Once she and Sirius were seated, Dumbledore took the seat at the head of the table for himself. He was silent for a minute, staring pensively at the group of young people before him, wondering why it was he who had to bare the tale of bad news to them all yet again.

He had had the false impression that this was all going to end when the war with Voldemort ended. He had even planned on going on a little reprieve away from London for a while to enjoy himself. Maybe to America, the Bahamas, he wasn't sure. But, now that plan was well out of the window, so he decided that he'd better buck up and just tell them already. Besides, that look he was getting from Ms. Granger for delaying the inevitable was probably fit to kill...

"As you may well have thought, I have some news. But," he said, noticing the look of terror that was forming on Hermione's face, "before you get entirely bent out of shape, please, take a minute to calm yourselves. There have been two more attacks."

At this, Hermione lost control. "Your telling us to calm down! Take a minute to relax? How in the world do you expect anything along those lines to occur when there are two more dead, and I am presuming that they were young girls, out there?"

"Ms. Granger, if you would have heeded my advice, you would have had time to hear me say that there were two attacks. Not two murders. The girls in question were not murdered, that we know of. As of now, they are simply missing and we do have some leads to find them."

Sirius put his hand on Hermione's arm to soothe her. She gave him a sad look before looking back towards the Professor. "What are these leads?" she asked softly, not wanting to put too much hope into her words. She wasn't quite sure that she wanted to have a lead to the sicko that was after her and these other girls. But, she knew that she had to. It would save the lives of many and she wouldn't be the one to refuse that.

Dumbledore continued. "We have found some blood at the scene of the abduction. Some of it, and not a lot, mind you, was from the girls' themselves. But there was something else we found at the scene that appears to have not come from one of the girls, but someone else. Someone else was in their apartment that night, and I am guessing that they weren't exactly friendly."

Sirius couldn't help but smirk at this. This guy, this crazy bastard that was after his Hermione and a bunch of other innocents, had made a huge mistake. Maybe catching him and killing him wouldn't be as impossible as it seemed before. Then again, it could be a trap. One just never knew.

Hermione was staring at Dumbledore with a look of indignation. She knew that the old Headmaster had been planning on taking some well deserved time off after the war with Voldemort had been won, but this was beginning to be ridiculous. She hardly believed that this was anytime for him to begin slacking off in his duties as the head of the Order.

"They've been kidnapped and taken only Merlin knows where, to deal with Merlin knows what, and you don't think that that's worse than murder? Or at least cause for a little more alarm?" she said, going from scared to angry almost instantly. "They could be enduring monstrous amounts of torture and abuse, if they aren't already dead. Who's to say that those creatures that have been killing them haven't decided to…to…quit leaving behind their evidence?" she had been going to suggest that maybe the creatures were eating the girls now, but was scared to say it aloud. Silently, she pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. "I'll kindly ask you to inform me if anything else is discovered, thank you." she said, leaving the room and everyone in it staring in her wake.

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"How could you have been so careless! What possessed you to bring them back here? I said for you to take care of them in a different way this time so as to catch their attention, not lead them right to us!" Tyler yelled at his, as of now, very incompetent creatures.

"Master," one of them began, speaking to him in, of course, parseltongue. "We thought you'd be pleased. We had to have the stupid one to scare them out of their apartment. We didn't catch them while they were outside," it explained, already cowering for its' explanation sounded feeble, even to itself. And he was right in his instinct, for Tyler didn't hesitate in firing a very loud, and very painful 'crucio' in his direction.

"You had that imbecile help you? Well, at least he wore some sort of disguise, didn't he? I mean surely he's not stupid enough to…" And he stopped. The look on the faces of his pet's was enough to tell him what he feared.

"Kill the girls. Bring Wyatt to me, now!" he yelled angrily, before summoning Spencer to him.

"Yes, my lord?" Spencer asked, trying to hide his amusement at the failure of Tyler's plan.

"You must go to their apartment. Make sure that there was no evidence left behind. If we fail now, it's all over." Tyler told him, pausing for a minute at the end. "Oh, and try out our new Dark Mark, while your at it," he finished.

Spencer almost snorted out loud. The new Dark Mark was the same thing his father had used, minus the snake and with the Serpantitheus in it's place, flying around the skull instead of into the mouth.

"Yes, sir." he said, leaving the room and heading off rather unwillingly to the flat in London.

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Sirius, after leaving Dumbledore in the kitchen with Harry and Ginny, went to find Hermione. He knew she needed him, whatever was wrong with her, and he wasn't about to desert her now. After a brief search, he found her in one of the studies up stairs, a book open in her lap although he knew she wasn't reading it. Not only did he know this because she was clearly upset, but because the name of the said book was: House Elves: The Most Useful Slaves Since Humans. How much clearer could that be? She looked up at him as he entered.

"Is he gone?" she asked, closing the book and setting her hands across it in her lap.

Sirius had begun to shake his head, but upon hearing a loud crack from below them, nodded it quickly.

"Yep. It appears so." he said, making his way over to the chair next to hers. He sat down in it and placed a comforting arm on hers, looking at her square in the eye and giving her a soft smile. "Care to talk about it?"

She tried, and failed, to give him an innocent look. "Talk about what?" she smiled crookedly.

"Oh, I don't know, the weather, or maybe your position on House Elf Liberation?" he said, shooting her a significant look. "You know what I want to talk about, Hermione. Don't play dumb with me, it doesn't suite you."

She grimaced. Somehow she had known that it wasn't going to work very well. "Fine, what is it you want to know exactly?" she asked, annoyed that he brought up the topic.

He smiled, clearly happy that he got his way. "Well, for starters, how about telling me why you blew up at Albus Dumbledore? Are you insane! You could be kicked out of the Order!"

At this, she laughed. "Yeah. I really see them doing that. Come on, be logical. I am one of the ones who helped Harry defeat Voldemort. I don't exactly see them chucking me anytime soon, do you? Besides, even if I didn't help them, Dumbledore's one of the nicest guys I know. He wouldn't do that."

Sirius smirked. "If he's so nice, why did you yell at him?"

She frowned. It was so obvious. But, then again, this was a male she was talking to, so it was clear why he wouldn't have understood. And if she didn't tell him, he may never know.

"Because." she replied, somewhat childishly.

"Oh, that was intelligent. It explained everything in one word! How simply brilliant!" he said sarcastically.

"Because he's not worried about them, that's why. Just because they weren't found at the scene dead, he assumes that they are alive and safe, when they could well be dead still! Or worse, Merlin forbid it! I don't think they are safe, and he shouldn't be taking this so lightly!" she yelled, somewhat louder than she'd originally meant to.

"Taking it so lightly? What on earth are you talking about? He's got the entire Order on this case! All of them!"

"Well, if they're so good, why haven't they found any leads? What would be so different about the girls being taken?" she fired back, eyes blazing with her passion of the subject.

Sirius ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "It's not that easy. And if you'd been listening downstairs instead of storming up here in a tirade, you might have heard the part where he said that the guy left behind a large and important piece of evidence."

Hermione was still staring at him stubbornly, although she did look nervous now, as though she'd realized she was partly wrong. "But why isn't it that easy? The damn order fought and defeated Voldemort. Why is this one so much harder?"

Sirius got up from his chair and walked over to her. He gently pulled her up out of the chair and into his arms. The house elf book fell to the floor with a clatter as he brought his mouth to hers and kissed her softly.

"It was never that easy, Hermione. It's just harder for you this time because the creep's lashed out at you personally. But have some faith. We will stop him, just like we did Voldemort." he whispered into her hair after he had finished kissing her.

She nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry." she said, then, "Oh no. I've made a fool of myself tonight, haven't I?"

Sirius couldn't help but smile. "Well, fool isn't quite the strongest word to use…" he began, but she playfully smacked him on the arm. He grabbed her by the waste and started tickling her, but she soon became distracted by the book that had fallen on the floor. She picked it up and examined the title with a stricken expression.

"I was…this….how…oh no…." she began, "Get this thing out of my sight! Now! I can't believe I had it open and ….Burn it, Sirius, please?" she practically begged.

Sirius, being the obedient boyfriend that he was, complied, but he laughed his arse off whilst he did so.

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End file.
